Defence minister AK Antony off on a three-day visit to Vietnam
15 Dec 2007
New Delhi: Defence minister AK Antony will be leaving New Delhi on Sunday for a three-day official visit to Vietnam, accompanied by a high-level delegation. India has old defence, economic and cultural ties with Vietnam.
Vietnam has recently been elected as a member of the UN Security Council, for a period of two years.
The delegation includes the vice chief of Army staff, Lt Gen ML Naidu, air vice marshal, VR Iyer and vice admiral DK Dewan along with additional secretary, PK Rastogi.
During his stay in the capital Hanoi, Antony is expected to hold meetings with his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh. He is also scheduled to make a courtesy call on Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Minh Triet and the legendry Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap.
The defence minister will also visit various defence installations in Ho Chi Minh City besides holding discussions with the Indian Chamber of Business.
Over the years Indo-Vietnamese defence cooperation has grown steadily mainly through visits by military delegations, ship visits from India and training of Vietnamese Defence personnel in India.
The relationships received a shot in the arm in 1994 with the signing of the Protocol on Defence cooperation. It reached a high point in July 2007 when the two countries agreed on a “Strategic Partnership” progarmme during the visit of the Vietnamese prime minister to India.
Last month the third India Vietnam Security Dialogue was held in New Delhi and a number of decisions were taken by both sides to provide further impetus to their relationships.
The decisions include exchange of visits for better appreciation of requirements and problems, greater cooperation in the field of training of defence service personnel, particularly involving junior level officers, security dialogue at least once a year, sharing of expertise on issues of common concern, such as maritime security, border management and counter insurgency, conduct of training for Vietnamese officers in the field of UN Peacekeeping operations, invitation to Vietnamese officers to Indian military exercises as observers etc.
